UCI Executive Board denies request to challenge election process

By VeloNews.com

Published Sep. 6, 2013

Updated Sep. 10, 2013 at 5:03 PM EDT

The UCI Executive Board has denied a request to forward a question over its election rules to the Court of Arbitration for Sport ahead of the September 27 vote in Florence, Italy. Photo: Sergei Grits | AFP

The UCI Executive Board denied a request by six of the 178 national governing bodies to involve the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the upcoming election that will determine the next president of the UCI.

The federations had asked the UCI to submit this to the CAS:

“Under Article 51.1 of the UCI Constitution, which federation(s) may submit a valid nomination for a prospective candidate for office of President of UCI?”

In a press release, the UCI struck down the idea.

“The UCI Executive Board, having considered and recognized the UCI Constitution and the Presidential nominations properly submitted under it, has ruled unanimously that it was for the Congress, as the highest authority of the UCI – rather than CAS – to consider all aspects related to the elections,” the UCI said.

The campaign of current president Pat McQuaid has been muddied in controversy. His challenger, British Cycling President Brian Cookson, has questioned the UCI’s electoral process. Multiple federations have nominated McQuaid for re-election.

McQuaid’s own federation — Cycling Ireland — would not back his nomination. He is currently a resident of Switzerland and that nation’s governing body has supported his campaign for re-election, but he may lose the support because of a legal challenge by his opposition.

The UCI then proposed a rule change that would allow any two federations to nominate a candidate, in lieu of his home federation’s lack of support. The six governing bodies that submitted the request to involve the CAS challenged the validity of the proposed amendment.

McQuaid is a member of the Executive Board but did not participate in the discussions or the decision in the matter.